About 3,000 illegal migrants detained in operation in Moscow

A tent camp for up to 900 people had been put up in eastern Moscow to accommodate illegal immigrants

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MOSCOW, August 1 (Itar-Tass) - Police detained about 3,000 illegal immigrants on Thursday in an operation to crack down on crime in Moscow, deputy head of the Moscow city’s main department of the interior Vyacheslav Kozlov told reporters.

Kozlov said that a tent camp for up to 900 people had been put up in eastern Moscow to accommodate illegal immigrants. He said the camp had a dining facility and teams of rescuers and medical specialists had been brought there. Fifteen policemen are protecting the camp but additional forces may be called on if needed, the official said.

“About 3,000 nationals of different states have been detained by police at Moscow markets during an operation to reveal ethnic criminal groups engaged in organizing illegal migration,” Kolzlov said. “Some of them will remain in the tent pending a court decision on their expulsion,” he added, noting that the detained immigrants had not been brought there yet, but that everything was ready.

The press service of Moscow police announced that on Wednesday alone, 1,200 Vietnamese citizens had been detained in eastern Moscow, and 20 illegal production units were exposed. Illegal workshops were revealed on Sovetskaya Street in the same district, and 200 foreign nationals staying in Moscow without permitting documents were detained, police said.

Nationals of Egypt, Morocco, Syria, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan are among those detained. Some of them appeared to have forged passports, the source said. Others had non-lethal weapons and firearms.